More and more electronic devices are used as provided on, in or in close proximity to a user and a user body. Typically, communication between these electronic devices or communication from these devices to devices provided externally from the user are provided for example using body area networks, wireless body area networks or wearable body area networks. The body area network field is being developed to for example allow inexpensive and continuous health monitoring. The monitoring may include real-time updates of medical records via the internet, and it may allow for early detection of medical conditions for example by implanting bio-sensors inside the human body to collect various physiological changes in order to monitor a patient's health status. Also other electronic devices provided at, in or in close proximity to a user, such as hearing aids provided in or behind the ear of a hearing impaired person, may communicate with externally provided electronic devices, such as hearing aid accessories. The body area networks are typically implemented using wireless standards, such as for example Bluetooth. However, use of the Bluetooth standard for communication requires a significant power source, typically not available in small biosensors, hearing aids, etc.
Furthermore, personal area networks providing exchange of digital information by capacitively coupling picoamp currents through the body for communication between electronic devices provided on or near the human body have been suggested.
Typically, however, significant losses are experienced during transfer of signals from an electronic device provided at or in close proximity to a user due to absorption of electromagnetic radiation by the human body. This may be overcome by increasing the power of the signals, however, this leads to an increased power consumption which is typically not desirable. Furthermore, for small electronic devices, such as wearable electronic devices, positioned at or in close proximity to the user, power sources are limited and an increased power consumption for transmitting wireless signals is not a viable solution.